JD(U) MP wonders if coronavirus being 'pushed' into Delhi

JD(U) MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh wondered on Sunday if coronavirus was being "pushed" into Delhi every time cases of the infection came down in the national capital, as he claimed that the world is still debating if the virus is man-made or natural.

Speaking in the Lok Sabha during a discussion on the Covid-19 pandemic, Singh said, "We see that infections in Delhi are going down sometime, and then suddenly the numbers start rising. Isn't it the case that virus is being pushed from outside into places where the numbers are declining?"

There is no finality to the debate over whether the virus is natural or man-made, he claimed, adding that he was not sure if Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, who was sitting in the House, agrees with this contention or not.

The leader of the JD(U) in Lok Sabha, who is better known as Lalan Singh, asked the opposition to give constructive suggestions to the Union government in dealing with the pandemic instead of "wasting" time by criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The more opposition leaders criticise Modi, the more popular he becomes while their popularity declines, Singh said, praising the government's decision to impose a nation-wide lockdown in March to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

India has fared much better than the rest of the world in terms of fatality rate and recovery rate, Singh said.

He also hailed the Bihar government's handling of the pandemic, saying that the state has 91.7 per cent recovery rate and only 0.5 per cent fatality rate.

It has as of now only 13,000 cases of existing positive cases, Singh said.

During the discussion, N Nageswara Rao of the TRS expressed concern over nearly 90,000 daily cases of Covid-19 across the country and added that the curve continues to rise.

S T Hassan of the Samajwadi Party criticised the lockdown as "unplanned" and alleged that the pandemic was "communalised".

NCP's Amol Ramsing Kolhe alleged that the government was busy welcoming US president Donald Trump and toppling opposition-run state governments when the disease was spreading in the country.

Ramesh Bidhuri of the BJP hit out at the opposition, saying they wanted the Union government to fail in its efforts to curb Covid-19 cases, and asserted that the decision to impose the lockdown played a huge role in dealing with the pandemic.

He praised Home Minister Amit Shah, saying he was instrumental in dealing with the pandemic in the national capital when the Delhi government could not tackle the crisis.

Shah worked hard and visited hospitals despite being a diabetic, Bidhuri said.